Chignik, Alaska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
On paper, asparagus, apple, lavender, and cabbage all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Chignik, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Chignik lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Chignik — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Chignik — the short answer
Chignik, Alaska: USDA zone 6a, across 7K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (statewide)
- Apr 16 - May 15
- NOAA RCC ACIS 1991–2020, state middle half
- First hard freeze (statewide)
- Sep 24 - Oct 29
- NOAA RCC ACIS 1991–2020, state middle half
- City area
- 7K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Where no local normal resolves, the figure is the statewide middle-half window, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Growing Season
Zone 6a is Chignik's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against that, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Chignik
Each reading below is measured for Chignik itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Winter hardiness
MeasuredChignik sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
What Grows in Chignik
Every plant below cleared Chignik's own zone 6a. Each card opens that plant's Alaska profile. How we score.
What's on the federal record near Chignik
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Chignik. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TRIDENT CHIGNIK SUPPORT FACILITYToxics Release Inventory · 1100 ft
- Trident Seafoods CorporationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- SC04505807DCCC1001 30005 BIA CHIGNIK BAYNitrate · 2100 ft
- SC04505807DCCC2001 30006 BIA CHIGNIK BAYNitrate · 2100 ft
- TRIDENT SEAFOODS CHIGNIK SUPPORT FACILITYToxics Release Inventory · 2500 ft
- Mallard Duck BayMining · 6.5 mi
- Unnamed (between arms of Castle Bay)Mining · 6.6 mi
- Unnamed (at the head of Kuiukta Bay)Mining · 8.6 mi
- Gary WardMining · 8.7 mi
- Portage BayMining · 8.9 mi
- Warner Bay Breccia PipeMining · 9.3 mi
- Warner Bay Porphyry ProspectMining · 9.8 mi
Measured from Chignik's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Chignik.
Total Sites
15
within ~10 miles of Chignik
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Chignik
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Chignik
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Mine waste leaches heavy metals. Test for lead, arsenic and cadmium before growing food here.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
Check your specific parcel in Chignik
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Chignik average
Your land is one point inside Chignik
Everything above resolves to Chignik as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 7K acres. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at city scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.
Your Lot vs the Chignik Average
Chignik Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Chignik
- ●One soil character for all of Chignik
- ●State-average frost dates
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Chignik's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Chignik
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Chignik, Alaska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Chignik averages can't show:
We read public map data around Chignik — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Chignik average
How we know this about Chignik
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals, with the labelled statewide window where none resolves; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Chignik
When does frost risk typically end in Chignik?
Chignik has no hard-freeze normal of its own, so it follows Alaska's statewide window: the middle half of counties see their last spring hard freeze (28°F) around Apr 16 - May 15 and their first fall hard freeze around Sep 24 - Oct 29, per NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS (1991–2020). Frost dates shift with elevation and local microclimate, so watch your own site's cold pockets. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — light frosts can still bite for a few more weeks, so tender transplants usually wait another 2–3 weeks.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Chignik?
The federal record around Chignik is light — 15 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Mining entries (8), the nearest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.2 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Chignik?
As the season closes around Alaska's statewide first fall hard freeze (28°F) near Sep 24 - Oct 29 (NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS (1991–2020)), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before the first hard night. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Chignik's scale — its 6a band and its zone 6a. Your yard writes its own version of Chignik's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Chignik’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Chignik's own scale — the 7,006 acres it covers and 15 documented sites around it; 3 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Chignik's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 15 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Chignik, the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Chignik's boundary and the 7,006 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear Chignik's hardiness zoneGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
Inherited from a wider read
- The frost window — no local hard-freeze normal resolved here, so the statewide dates stand infrom Alaska
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Chignik's 7,006 acres read through the state summaryfrom Alaska
- The growing challenges every Alaska grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Alaska
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Chignik's 7,006 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Chignik you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 7,006 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.2 miles out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Chignik-wide figureread your own land →
More in Alaska
Wider growing context
What grows across AlaskaChignik sits outside our named growing regions, so Alaska as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides